Chương 96: A Conversation with a Dungeon

Aliandra Ali froze, mid-cast, stunned. Did it just speak? She looked left and right, but there was nothing else in the entire cave. Just the anomalous mimic slime pretending – exceptionally well – to be a rock.

"No… kill… Plaes… please?" Ali stared at the rock. But it had clearly spoken – poorly – in broken Elvish. It was begging for its life. The rock shivered, and a transformation rippled across its surface, turning it into a small round blob of semitransparent blue ooze that trembled, cowering in the corner.

"You are the dungeon?" Ali asked, finally finding her voice, and responding in Elvish. The mimic slime reacted instantly, recoiling from the sound of her voice and scrambling around, but it was cornered, there was nowhere to go. It stopped, pressing itself up against the wall as if trying to make itself even smaller, and then repeated itself in a quavering voice that seemed to be generated by vibrating its membrane, "Please, not kill." Ali took a deep breath and sat down on a rock.

I thought slimes were supposed to be universally unintelligent. Yet here was one who had learned at least enough Elvish to speak and understood its situation well enough to know that begging for its life was its only remaining choice. I guess it does have the Anomalous trait. Whatever that means. Whatever it was, this monster was definitely an anomaly and Ali needed to get to the bottom of it before she could proceed with her task.

"Hi, my name is Aliandra," she said, mentally instructing her minions to back off a bit, and she lowered her barrier, waiting to see what the monster would do.

"You don't kill?"

"No, I'm not going to kill you," Ali answered, trying to keep her voice soothing.

"What is your name?" Whatever the outcome of this encounter, Ali was quite certain she could not kill an intelligent, defenseless creature begging her to spare its life.

"I… name?" the slime stretched a little and tipped the top part to the side in a gesture that looked remarkably like a humanoid tipping their head in curiosity or surprise. The bottom half of the slime rippled again, taking on the texture and color of the rock before reverting. Ali had no idea how to read the emotional state of a blob, but it certainly seemed bewildered and even a little confused. Ali smiled encouragingly, wondering if the slime could even see her, and repeated her question.

"What is your name?"

"I… Naia." The slime answered. As if anticipating an attack, it sucked its entire body up into the corner and matched the shape and look of the wall so convincingly that if Ali hadn't known it was there, it might as well have been invisible. Ali stared at the bizarre creature. It had managed to surprise her again – not only did it have a definite name, but the name was a common Wood Elf girl's name. One usually given to a child. Ali readjusted her companion's gender in her mind.

"It's nice to meet you, Naia," Ali said.

"You… Aliandra? You not kill Naia?"

"Yes, I'm not going to kill you. Why are you down here?" What has got her so paranoid about being killed? Naia's single-minded obsession about ensuring she wasn't going to be killed seemed a little disturbing. How often do people try and kill her? Her anger started to rise, when suddenly she remembered that had been her purpose just a few moments ago.

"Live here," Naia said. Slowly detaching herself from the wall, she formed a flattened round sphere out of her body. It seemed she was a little smaller than Ali if she judged by volume.

"This is your home?" It wasn't clear if Naia was referring to this tiny cave or the entire dungeon.

"Trapped, imprisoned," Naia answered, her voice turning flatter, almost angry. The thin blue membrane around her body vibrated in response to her emotions.

"How long have you been here?"

"Naia not know. Hundred? Years?" A hundred years? Ali stared at the slime and glanced around the tiny cave. She had been trapped in a stasis spell for three thousand years, but she had not been conscious for most of that time. Being imprisoned in an underground cave for a hundred years sounded like a particularly vile form of torture.

"Who trapped you here?"

"The men." Naia formed a delicate tendril, extruded from her body, and waved it vaguely in an upward direction, and Ali knew she was referring to people from Volle.

"And you made this dungeon?" Now that Naia was talking, it wouldn't hurt to confirm her suspicions.

"Yes, I am dungeon," Naia answered.

"Like you." She stretched her body a little toward Ali as if curious but afraid to approach.

"I'm not a dungeon," Ali answered, annoyed at Naia's presumption. This strange creature seemed to have an even stranger grasp of reality. But Ali felt sorry for her, being trapped for so long probably had warped her perceptions. Naia stretched her body, pulling herself along the ground toward the boulder she had been using as cover.

She extruded a part of herself around, as if peering out from behind her protection, her body rippling and shifting to match the textures of the rocky ground, and pointed her little pseudopod toward Ali's minions, as if pointing out something obvious.

"Oh, that's what you mean? Yes, I'm a summoner. I can summon creatures too."

"Aliandra… Elvish not very good." Naia shook what Ali would have called her 'head' region before it was reabsorbed back into the body. Ali frowned at the rebuke. Naia clearly had trouble speaking Elvish, and yet she had the temerity to criticize Ali's language? And call her a dungeon? What nonsense! Somehow, Naia read Ali's change in emotions, and she scrambled back to the corner, quivering in fear.

"I'm sorry, Naia," Ali apologized, trying to soothe the skittish slime.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You sure?" Naia asked, tentatively. This might take a while. At least Ali still had some time before they sent people looking for her. Trying a bit of a different approach, Ali began to tell Naia the story of her life with her parents, the Grove, and even described the city of Dal'mohra as she had known it.

Seeing that Naia was calming down and listening with what seemed to be rapt attention, Ali continued sharing some of her experiences since waking up, eventually leading to the quest for the mushrooms that had brought her here. She carefully avoided some of the more painful experiences she had had, prudently leaving out Eliyen's request that she destroy the dungeon.

"You want mushrooms?" Naia's inquiry was filled with curiosity.

"Yes, I can learn to make them," Ali answered. She didn't think it would hurt to share some details about her abilities.

"I can make them at home, and then make the mana-purified water." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"The mushrooms are there. You can take." And just like that, Ali's job was done. She wasn't about to kill Naia to destroy the dungeon, but Naia had just given her permission. All she needed to do was deconstruct some mushrooms and she could be on her way – and her friends would have the elixirs they needed.

"Why don't you tell me about you?" Ali asked. She had no need to stay, but she felt reluctant to end their little conversation. After only a little encouragement, Naia began to tell her story.

"I used to live in… creek and pond in the forest. I liked to play with… the slimes," she began, hesitatingly, wobbling a little at Ali before continuing. Ali nodded encouragingly, wondering how a slime with no eyes could 'see' her, or how she even interpreted her body language as 'looking'. But Naia reacted to her physical conversation cues just as well as her verbal ones.

"Slimes and oozes are so pretty," Naia said a little bashfully.

"I love them." Her speaking seems to improve when she talks about something she likes, Ali thought, wondering just how long it had been since the creature had experienced a conversation.

"I got a class." Naia wobbled a little, drawing closer to where Ali sat, her body rippling through textures and colors nervously.

"I was Slime Lord. I was so happy. I could make slimes and oozes. I make them grow. I play with them all the time. They carry my mana into the caves, and it becomes my home." She paused for a moment, sitting in stillness. It had been the longest Naia had spoken for and Ali wondered if she was tired.

"Then they came," she gestured vaguely upwards with an extruded pseudopod.

"They don't let me out to the forest and creek. Must stay here or die. There is no kill, eat, explore. Naia cannot learn… or grow. They only send people like you," Naia pointed at Ali for emphasis.

"Too strong for me. Everyone wants to kill me. So, I hide in here. It's too small for the big people to get me."

"But your slimes are strong, especially the Scalding Slimes. Can't you fight back?"

"I killed one, once," Naia said, her body instantly transforming into a rock again.

"They send very scary people, very strong. Naia very scared – hide for weeks. Naia not kill, they don't come."

"But you attacked me?" It made sense given the situation. The people guarding the entrance to the dungeon were much higher level than Naia, and they were ready to charge in and evict people who were not following the rules. Ali was certain they would have also been ready to subjugate Naia if she acted up. Ali looked sadly as she considered the plight of this forlorn creature, trying to pretend it was a rock so that the scary memories might go away.

"Yes," Naia said, her expressive body shifting back to her natural blue.

"You scary. Small, can come in here. You kill my slimes and make. Ancient… scary!" Her membrane shivered. Ancient? Does she have Identify, or can she sense it? Even just her presence was scary to this creature?

"Can't you find another way out?" Ali asked, trying to re-engage the scared slime.

"Freedom…" Naia let out a sound that was a remarkable mimicry of a despondent sigh, her blue membrane wobbling from the effort.

"Is behind hard rock." Her pseudopod reached out and picked up the remains of a dagger from the ground, worn down to nothing more than a rusty stump. She lashed out with a sudden furious frustration, smacking the weapon repeatedly against the smooth black surface of the nearby wall. All that happened was a hollow echo that sounded through the cave and Naia cast the dagger to the ground and turned around, assuming the shape of her rock.

Ali's eyes found the dagger among the discarded weapons, noticing only now that all of them were worn down to almost nothing. The smooth black rock wall was marked with a few pitifully small scratches. Oh. Ali's heart broke as she surveyed the evidence of decades of destroyed hope, frustration, and despair just by the worn and completely used-up tools.

"Adventurers lose things," Naia said, indicating the worn gear on the ground, her voice calm again, accepting of her fate.

"I collect. Sometimes steal. But wall is too strong, Naia can't break." The little slime sighed again.

"You get mushrooms? You leave. No kill Naia."

"I'm not going to kill you, Naia," Ali repeated herself for the dozenth time. Somehow, she no longer minded reassuring Naia.

"You don't mind giving me the mushrooms?"

"You can have anything," Naia answered despondently.

"Just leave me."

"I'm sorry, Naia," Ali said, getting up and returning to the pool of crystal-clear water. Visible below the surface of the crystal-clear pool was a forest of small mushrooms. She summoned her Grimoire and selected several different specimens to deconstruct. Variant: Psathyrella added to Imprint: Mushroom. And with that, she had achieved her second quest objective. Now she could create the mushrooms back at home and Eliyen could have all the water she wanted. And we can make the elixirs.

Behind her, she could feel Naia observing her from the safety of her rock, but to Ali's surprise, the small slime slithered her way, approaching cautiously, her body shifting and matching the ground as she moved. Are you curious? But it wasn't the mushrooms, or Ali and her Grimoire that had gotten Naia to leave her safety. The little slime wobbled and slithered up to Ali's much larger Luminous Slime, and then stopped. Tiny pseudopods reached out and poked the glowing slime, making its membrane wobble.

Naia's body began to shift and twist, slowly growing lighter and yellower as she tried to copy the Luminous Slime. But Ali could see that she wasn't able to match the brilliant glow of light magic, and she gave up, reverting to blue with a dejected wobble.

"You like my slime?" Ali asked.

"Is pretty. So pretty…" Naia flopped, wobbling again.

"But can't copy."

"Why not?"

"Must eat, then can copy. But then Aliandra kill Naia." Huh? It took her a few moments to realize what Naia was saying. Can she learn slimes by eating them? It was a bizarre idea, but it seemed to be what she was saying. And she was paranoid about eating the slime because she thought Ali would kill her for it. The more she thought about it, the more her curiosity burned to know how Naia's magic would work.

"You can learn slimes by eating them?"

"Yes. But no new slimes for long time." She sounded so sad. It must be hard for her to finally find a slime she didn't know and be afraid of being killed if she learned it. Ali pushed her Luminous Slime closer to Naia.

"Yours is so pretty," Naia repeated.

"Do you want it?" Ali asked, feeling like she was standing on the precipice of doing something forbidden, but her curiosity wouldn't allow her to back down.

"You give slime?" Naia's voice was filled with incredulity and her blue membrane rippled rapidly.

"Why not? I learned your slimes, and you gave me the mushrooms," Ali answered, committing herself fully.

"Go ahead." Tentatively at first, several pseudopods grew out of Naia's body, reaching for the glowing Luminous Slime, but as they touched, Naia's body exploded with tendrils, growing, reaching, stretching. The smaller blue slime rapidly poured her body over the larger slime, stretching thinner and thinner to fully envelop it within her. When she was finally done, a thin layer of blue jelly completely covered Ali's Luminous Slime, altering the hue of the light shining through her body.

Subtle, complex magical formations appeared within Naia, suddenly shooting tendrils into the monster enveloped within her. That looks… just like Deconstruction! Suddenly, the membrane of the Luminous Slime popped, and the glowing fluid merged with Naia's enclosing body. Ali's mana connection snapped with a painful recoil. Your reserved mana has decreased by 83.

The now much larger slime writhed and twisted for a few moments, as the fluid within merged, and then it released a large cloud of mana, in what looked remarkably like a magical burp before Naia slowly began to shrink back down to her normal size once again.

"Thank you, Aliandra," Naia said, her accent and language suddenly much better than before.

"You can speak better now?"

"New slimes give me more intelligence," Naia explained.

"Can I see it?" Ali asked. Naia clearly had some skills similar to her own, and Ali was curious to see her summoning magic. Her class must be rather incredible – Ali would love to have a skill that increased her intelligence every time she learned a new variant. But she supposed Naia's was restricted to slimes and oozes, and therefore having more potency might be a way to offset the limitations. Naia extruded a thick pseudopod and slowly expanded the end of it into a growing bulb.

Within the blue ooze of the bulb, Ali witnessed a remarkable sight. A kernel of yellow began to form, glowing with the unmistakable mana signature of light affinity. As Naia's mana flowed through the extruded growing bulb within her body, it expanded further and further, taking on more and more of the characteristics of the Luminous Slime she had just consumed.

When the bulb was about the same size as Naia's main body, the connecting pseudopod suddenly constricted, and then severed, leaving the bulb separate beside her. Naia's body reformed into her slightly flattened blue sphere, wobbling slightly, but the glowing yellow ball of slime continued to expand. Luminous Slime – Ooze – level 18 (Light)"Wow! That's amazing!" Ali had expected a spell or some kind of magic, similar to her own Grimoire, filled with runes and summoning.

But Naia had simply turned part of her own body into the Luminous Slime and separated, forming the new slime from within herself. It was a summoning magic she would never have imagined, and yet entirely appropriate for a Slime summoner like Naia. She only needed one to learn it…

"It's pretty," Naia said. The little blue slime was circling her new creation, examining it carefully, touching it, poking it. Her obvious excitement and joy went a long way to alleviating Ali's guilt over having just given a dungeon a new monster.

"I have one more," Ali told her, making the decision easily. If Naia got an intelligence increase from learning new slime variants, then sharing even her low-level Toxic Slime would probably be a huge help for her. Naia stopped caressing her new Luminous Slime and quivered expectantly as Ali used her Grimoire to summon a level two Toxic Slime.

"You can have this one too," Ali encouraged, pushing the slime forward toward Naia when she didn't immediately respond.

"Be careful though, it's poisonous."

"Slime is immune," Naia said. As soon as Ali permitted, Naia's body flowed, reaching and grabbing until the nasty-looking greenish-brown Toxic Slime was fully ingested. Through the semi-transparent blue membrane, Ali was treated to the clear view of Naia's magic deconstructing the second slime, just as quickly as the first. In just a few minutes, Naia had finished her meal and had split off two brand new Toxic Slimes of her own.

"Aliandra, why are you helping me?" Naia asked.

"Nobody ever helps me. Are you going to kill me?"

"No, I'm not going to kill you." It was amazing how much her language suddenly improved after just having consumed another slime. But the poor creature was still terribly paranoid about being killed.

"And it's just fair, I learned your Scalding Slime, Brine Ooze, and Stinging Jelly. I think it's fair to give you my slimes. I'm just amazed you found something as powerful as the Scalding Slime in here."

"I evolved that one," Naia said, a hint of pride in her voice.

"I put Brine Oozes in the steam vents for a week. Lots of them died, but I can evolve slimes… sometimes."

"That's clever," Ali answered. In truth Naia's admission was remarkable. The ability to evolve new monsters seemed incredibly powerful, even if she was restricted to just slimes and oozes. If Naia ever got out of here, she might become a terrifyingly powerful force. And yet…

"Naia, what do you want?"

"You go. Leave without killing me." But Ali couldn't miss the little pseudopod that reached for the black polished stone wall behind her.

"Would you like to be friends?" Ali asked, walking over to the wall, finally committing to the terrifying, forbidden thought that had been searing a hole in her heart since seeing the wrenching despair Naia had facing the impenetrable wall of black stone. And nobody ever helps you because you're a dungeon. I hope this isn't a terrible mistake, but I can't just leave you here in their prison for another hundred years. I just can't. Even if you're a dungeon.

"Friends?" Ali studied the wall closely, reaching her hand out to rest on its smooth polished surface and using Identify. Aether-Fused Obsidian – level 31 (Earth) No wonder Naia can't get through. It was some form of magically imbued stone – and higher level than Naia's class.

"Yes, friends. Help each other out and have chats now and then. Stuff like that." Ali summoned her mana, activating her Deconstruction against the wall. As soon as her magic activated, Naia froze, her membrane quivering rapidly. Ali pushed her magic harder into the resistant, incredibly dense rock, feeling how her spell was ripping at the very fabric of the stone, tearing it apart, and converting it into mana.

She couldn't imagine anything short of her potent deconstruction magic that would be able to destroy the mana-imbued stone. Variant: Aether-Fused Obsidian added to Imprint: Stone. It took longer than she normally needed, and a surprisingly large amount of mana for a spell that was typically exceptionally cheap, but suddenly the black polished surface exploded outward in a cascade of mana, leaving a perfectly round hole about half a meter wide leading to the darkness and unknown beyond.

The tiny cave was suddenly filled with the roar of an unseen waterfall from the other side, and a gust of cold, damp air buffeted Ali's face, blowing the floating motes of mana across the cave. Ali turned to the quivering slime.

"Well, shall we see what's on the other side?"